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The nose is surrounded by three full-sized projection screens in the ceiling, which pull down to surround the plane windows, giving the illusion of flying for real.

'You can fly to basically any airport in the world,' Price told the San Jose Mercury News.

'There's terrain scenery for the entire world. It has a complete weather system in it with real-time weather from the Internet.'

Like the real thing: The simulator has most of the instruments of an original 737 cockpit

'Just now, almost 20 years later, it's really coming to fruition,' he said.

'It's been a long process... It's definitely taken up quite a bit of my life. My first couple of versions of the cockpit were just basically made up of wood in my spare room in my house.

'My big thing is that I wanted real parts,' he said.

'It's a natural progression to want the shell to put it all in.'

The project was put together with a friend who shared Price’s obsession, and has a nosecone himself.

Price spent $1,500 to buy the shell of the retired Continental Airline 737 nose section. He hired a semi-truck to move the 2,500-pound nose, first to his hangar at Livermore Municipal Airport, where he keeps his single-engine Piper Arrow.

Workhorse: The Boeing 737 is the best-selling jetliner in history and is still in service around the world today

The cockpit stayed at the hangar while Price tinkered with it, adding the genuine Boeing parts he'd collected since starting his hobby in 1994. It moved to his Pleasanton home in 2009 -- although he admits he had to shave 4 feet from it and tear out part of the garage door so it would fit.

However, he admits he is unlikely to ever finish the project.

'I don't think it will ever really be finished,' he said.

'I will tinker with it for years to come. There is always some new technology coming along that is too irresistible not to add to my project...This is pretty fulfilling.

'I can both practice and realize my dream to fly jets. Everybody has to have their crazy hobby.'